Does a New Subway Entrance in Park Slope Mean Economic Revival?

A year ago, I outlined the steps the MTA would need to take in order to rehabilitate the Ninth Street on the F line and make it what it was born to be—the most beautiful subway station in the city. They’ve finally finished the first step: last week, the entrance to the station on the east side of Fourth Avenue, which has been closed for 40 years, reopened, Fucked in Park Slope reports.

Most commentators have touted the safety benefits: commuters arriving from Fifth Avenue will no longer have to cross six lanes of dangerous traffic to get on the F. But the opening could have further reaching benefits as well.

Consider Fourth Avenue between Tenth and Eleventh streets: on the west side of the street, where the subway entrance has been open for decades, you have an array of shops: a cafe, a liquor store, a laundromat, hair salon, and real estate office. On the east side, you have empty storefronts. Hopefully, increased foot traffic can be the first step in a microeconomic revival.